All aboard! Riding steam trains appeals to the kid in all of us
Ding-ding-ding. Clackety clack. WHOOOOOOT!
Noises, first and foremost, are what people remember about trains.
Not for nothing is "choo-choo" one of the first words most kids learn to say — somewhere between "Mommy," "Daddy" and "I won't eat broccoli."
But there are noises, and noises.
"It's really loud when they do the horns," said Calvin Brown, 3, covering his ears.
To be clear, Calvin likes trains. His dad, Michael Brown of Burlington, even got him a little engineer's cap to wear as he took an old-time railroad excursion on the Black River & Western Railroad, from Flemington to Ringoes. Twenty minutes, each way.
Alas, the train horn — loud as it is — is part of that experience. For many kids that age, it's a bit scary. Also a bit fun. "He likes it," his dad hinted.
He's not the only one.
"The sound, the scenery, just the noise of it all — I'm hooked, to this day," said Sean Anderson, a Millville resident, on his way to Phillipsburg with his family, courtesy Delaware River Railroad Excursions.
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Not for nothing did a whole style of music, boogie-woogie, evolve from the noises that jazzmen heard when they traveled from one juke joint to another.
Not for nothing is the "high lonesome" sound key to country and bluegrass — inspired by distant train whistles over the prairie. Trains are basic, not just to American transport, but American culture itself. Whoo-whooo!
The look, the feel...
But noises aren't all.
Old railroad trains like the Black River & Western in New Jersey;Essex Steam Train & Riverboat in Essex, Connecticut; the New Hope Railroad in Bucks County, Pennsylvania; Catskill Mountain Railroad in Kingston, New York and others in the tri-state area that offer nostalgic day trips in antique rail carriages, are also about the smell, the look, the feel.
They're about the gold-painted iron seat frames — an elegant feature of the Black River's 1915 passenger car. They're about the SPITTING IS FORBIDDEN notice, etched on the wooden molding.
They're about the vintage Phoebe Snow advertisements on the wall. "Says Phoebe Snow: 'I see you know, (As mothers should), the way to go."
Phoebe Snow — namesake of Teaneck's late, great singer-songwriter — was the mascot of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.
She, famously, could wear spotless white on her travels. That's because the DL&W used clean-burning anthracite coal. Less fortunate passengers, in those days of sooty engines, sometimes emerged from a long journey looking like a chimney sweep.
"That was an issue for train travelers at the time," said Mike Shea, president of the Black River Railroad Historic Trust.
Vintage train travel is about windows that open — try doing that in an Amtrak car — with a delicious clackety sound, to let in the breezes. It's about not sticking your head out, the better to see the passing farms, fields, rivers, steel truss bridges, and tree limbs that could easily take an arm off.
"No hanging out the window," announced Henry Shaw, a Black River volunteer from Philadelphia, as the train lurched into motion. " 'Cause these things will come down, and you will have a booboo."
All aboard
Who doesn't love a choo-choo train? "For kids from 6 to 60," as advertisers used to say. But they also have a special lure for two specific age brackets.
Hard-core train buffs often seem to be people who are 6 — or 60. Curious.
"I know kids like things that are big and moving and cool-looking," said Chris Cotty, vice president and general manager of Delaware River Railroad Excursions. As for older guys, who knows? "It sparks their imagination," he said.
Of course anyone, at any age, can enjoy a lovely ride aboard a vintage railroad train. Especially — as in the case of a weekend outing along the water, courtesy of Delaware River Railroad Excursions — there is a visit to a winery at the end of it.
"We said, since COVID, we're going to do as much as we could on the weekends, in the state," said Lisa Laufer of Hawthorne, who with her husband, Jody, boarded a vintage railroad car in Phillipsburg.
Their recent Delaware "excursion" was on the old Belvidere and Delaware River Railway, operated by the New York Susquehanna & Western Technical & Historical Society Inc. The route — presently being expanded — should reach Riegelsville Pa. by the end of the year.
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To the melodious accompaniment of Scott Joplin — via loudspeaker — passengers chug-chugged their way toward Villa Milagro Vineyards, one of several destinations the line offers. About 40 minutes, each way. "I like train travel, but I don't get to do much," Jody said.
The Laufers are a younger couple. But it's little kids — and certain older folks in their 60s and 70s — who seem to really get the train bug.
"The Little Engine that Could" and "Thomas the Tank Engine" are the very stuff of childhood. So are toy trains. There was no need to talk Genevieve Nestlen, 9, into riding in the upper berth of a caboose — Lackawanna Railroad, 1952 — being drawn by a 1928 Baldwin steam locomotive, at the Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She was clearly into it.
"I like riding at the top and seeing all the things out the windows," said Genevieve, visiting with her parents, Rich and Sarah, from Rochester, New York.
Mature audiences
But a certain kind of older guy also likes trains. Usually, though not always, it is a guy.
Walt Disney was one. A lifelong train buff, he built a narrow gauge railroad at his house in Holmby Hills, and gave his visitors free rides. It was the seed that grew into Disneyland.
Others, less ambitious, build massive electric train layouts in their basement. And if they are particularly outgoing, they become one of the volunteers that are the lifeblood of Steamtown, The Black River & Western, and other vintage train sites.
"I have fun coming here in the weekend" said Chuck Hoering of Oakland, who drives the hour-plus to Phillipsburg on Saturdays and Sundays in order to don the garb of a "trainman" (his preferred phrase). "I get to meet people from different countries. I met someone from Germany yesterday. I've met people from England, and Spain."
He also meets a lot of inquisitive children — since he happens to bear a certain resemblance to Santa Claus.
Are You or Aren't You, kids want to know. Happily, Delaware River Railroad Excursions runs a Polar Express Train Ride during the holiday season (this year, it's November 25 to Dec. 18). "I just tell them you have to come out for the Polar Express and find out," he said.
These scholars of the rails will be happy to tell you that the engine pulling your train is an EMD GP9, General Motors, 1959 (Delaware River Railroad Excursions) or an EMD 438 from the 1950s (Black River & Western). Both are diesel locomotives — steam engines have also been used at the two attractions, but they're offline at the moment.
They will use terms like "crossbuck" (the x-shaped railroad crossing sign), "clerestory" (the raised middle portion of a railroad car's roof), and "rolling stock" (anything on rails). And they will tend to regard train cars affectionately, as a species of living thing.
"These steam engines are just alive," said Dominick Tardogno, volunteer for the National Park Service, who has been guiding visitors through Steamtown for 20 years. "They have a character, like a human being."
Tardogno has served in the Navy, and worked for the National Security Agency in Washington, D.C. But in many ways, trains are his real calling.
Ticket to adventure
"Trains beckon you to go places and see things that are different from where you live," he said "A railroad looks like a plane to me, or an airport. It's an invitation to travel."
Then too, a locomotive is — in an age of bits and bytes and semiconductors — a machine that can be understood by anyone. The wheels, rods, and pistons have an elegant simplicity. In recent years, they've even inspired a whole aesthetic movement: Steampunk.
"These are the best, biggest machines that are easily accessible to a person," Tardogno said. "To work on them, for me, is like being a cowboy. It's like herding cattle, or herding horses. They're as big as dinosaurs, and you manipulate them, and move them around. There's something fascinating about that."
It's at Steamtown, about a 2½ hour drive from North Jersey, that you can see the "iron horses" — the great locomotives that are part of the romance of America's gilded era. Steamtown, a museum since 1984, is an old roundhouse of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. At one time, it routed trains to Hoboken and Jersey City, as well as points north.
"There was a strong connection to New York City, for all the railroads in this area," Tardogno said. "It was a big market for the anthracite coal they mined in these mountains. So the railroads all competed with each other."
At Steamtown, you can view locomotives dating back to 1903. And you can see vintage seats, hats, tokens, advertisements, dinnerware, everything relating to a way of life that vanished when the last American steam locomotive rolled out of the shop in 1953.
And yes, they offer excursions. The Scranton Limited is a 30-minute trip across the Lackawanna River; The Caboose Experience is a 15-minute ride on the back of the "clown wagon," as railroaders used to call it. On certain days there are longer trips as well — all with savvy folks like Tardogno as your guides.
"We were all little kids once and we loved trains, and that's how we ended up here as volunteers," he said.
Changing times
In America, the classic locomotive age began in 1829, when the prototype Tom Thumb first chuffed its way down a section of test track in Wheeling, West Virginia. It lasted through the heady days of the transcontinental railroad — completed in 1869 — to the 1930s and '40s, when diesel locomotives began to challenge the choo-choos of yore.
Trains, famously, knit the country together. They did much the same for continental Europe, East Asia, and India in the days of the Raj. Steam locomotives — as it happens — are still manufactured overseas: the Tangshan SY, made in China in 1989, is expected to be back online next year in Phillipsburg.
"We used to travel a lot by train at home," said Lisha Kallacheril, who was riding the Black River & Western with her daughters Ann, 15, and Sona 13.
Home — India — was the scene of wonderful two-day trips from Kerala to Delhi, where they marveled at the scenery of the Indian subcontinent. "We would travel from south to north," she said. "We spent overnight on the train."
But a day trip through Hunterdon County isn't so bad either.
Especially on a broiling Sunday, in a lovely old rattletrap train car. One whose windows — blessedly — can be opened.
"I'm expecting some nice views," Sona said.
Ride the train
Here are a few of the many scenic rail excursions available in the tri-state area:
Steamtown National Historic Site, 150 South Washington Avenue, Scranton, PA. 570-340-5200. nps.gov/stea/
New Hope Railroad, 32 West Bridge Street, New Hope, PA. 215 862-2332. newhoperailroad.com
Delaware River Railroad Excursions, 100 Elizabeth St, Phillipsburg, NJ. 877 872-4674. 877trainride.com
Pine Creek Railroad, Allaire State Park, 4265 Atlantic Ave, Wall Township, NJ. (Narrow gauge). 732 938-2371. exploringallaire.com/visit
Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, 1 Susquehanna Street, Jim Thorpe, PA. 570 325-8485. lgsry.com
Black River & Western Railroad, 80 Stangl Road, Flemington, NJ, or 245 John Ringo Rd, Ringoes, NJ. 908-782-6622, blackriverrailroad.com
Essex Stream Train & Riverboat, 1 Railroad Ave, Essex, CT. 860-767-0103. essexsteamtrain.com
Catskill Mountain Railroad, 55 Kingston Plaza Road, Kingston, NY. 845 332-4854. catskillmountainrailroad.com
Strasburg Rail Road, 301 Gap Road, Ronks, PA. 866 725-9666. strasburgrailroad.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Steam train rides: Take a trip back in time on these vintage trains
